About LeagueIntegrity

The fix was in before the game started. The main story on nhl.com's front page all day was about Columbus turning things around and how tonight was their most important game of the season. The league doesn't even try to hide it anymore.

Don't be stupid. The call was incorrect but I can see why it was missed. Plenty of stuff worse than that in this game alone. That being said, the only reason it was called back was because of the score.

Watch the replay of that Cleary penalty. He made a deliberate effort to get out of the way. If anything it should've been a 5on3. Horrible call. If the ref wasn't sure, it should've been deemed incidental contact.

Read my post again. I never said the league fixes games, only that if one league did, it would be the NHL. No accusation was made that Boston or Detroit were favored in any way.
The only thing I claimed in my post, was that nearly every official in the league has a tendency to try and 'even-up' games by calling penalties against the team with the lead. Whether this is intentional or not, I don't know, but I you're going to look like an idiot if you try to deny it. Brad Watson happens to be one of the worst offenders of 'even-up' calls. My guess is that he assumes the winning team is going to get complacent, and gives them more attention. I'll have to take a look at his officiating history to see if it's a common trend in his games.

If the score had been 3-1 Boston, in Detroit, the calls would've probably been in Detroit's favor. Nearly every ref in the league is guilty of it to some extent, but Brad Watson is the worst .
Also, if there's any league that would fix games via reffing, it's the NHL. The MLB, and NFL don't need it, but you know how the NHL sells itself on parity and close games.

It's pretty obvious what Babcock's referring to. It's been known for some time that this team has a glut of NHL-caliber, sub-par forwards, and they'd like to get rid of the ones they can while getting something in return. Holland's probably told Babcock to showcase them as trade fodder. I suspect after game 20 (or 10, depending on how bad they do) we'll see a roster resembling the best the Wings can ice. We'll just have to endure an aggravating early season, which is a shame, because I wanted to see a 24/7 filled with Wings' wins, and not locker-room drama......hmmm, maybe HBO is behind all this to make their show more interesting.
That being said, I'm not sure why Samuelsson hasn't been sitting more. They can't trade him, and he clearly isn't trying.

Gonna have to disagree with you there. They're usually awful, but today they've been tame and have talked quite a bit about the Wings prospects. Hell, they even told their idiot audience of Pens fans to marvel at Datsyuk's gift even though he's on the other team.

I've got to believe there's an attitude issue. Tatar did more than pay his dues in the AHL, and he's free to evaluate the option of going to Russia internally, but he never should have expressed it to the press in the way that he did. However right he might be, the correct thing to do would've been to say it was his 'ultimate goal' to make the team, not that it was his goal, but that the KHL provided ample oppourtunity if things don't work out. Just look at Mantha. From the draft to the start of training camp he had people believe he was really determined to make the Wings this year, despite it being near impossible. When it was made obvious he wasn't NHL ready he didn't pout, and just said what we were all thinking, and what I'm sure he knew from the beginning.
I can't reiterate enough, Tatar paid his dues (unlike Mantha), but he's been very immature throughtout this whole ordeal.

I knew people like you would show up. I agree, regardless of your stance on homosexuality, it's annoying when people use it as a derogatory term. That's beside the point though; I'm sure it upsets some players too, and isn't that the point of all the trash talk on the ice? I'm sure all the players that call opposing players *** aren't homophobes, but know that it'll get under the skin of players like yourselves who seem to be overly sensitive.

I'm one of the opinion that absolutely nothing should be off-limits so long as it isn't reflected in players' off ice antics. People will always cross the line and there's no way to effectively prevent it. I don't mind it so long as it's an unwritten rule, as it then provides the perfect opportunity for agitators to add another element to the game, and enforcers to police it, but when the league gets involved it's gone too far.
Soon enough you won't be able to use *** as an insult. People still don't understand that athletes, hockey players especially, have different faces, including one that only shows itself on the ice.

I hate to come out of the woodwork to say this, but I never believed in this roster. The only reason they had a chance this year was because the rest of the league is so awful. This was a rebuilding year and everyone should have recognized it with the off-season signings.
That being said, eventually the spare parts and the old players grown beyond effectiveness will be replaced. The new guys will have to learn the ropes, but in this league, and with this team, 'learning the ropes' just means they'll make the playoffs as a low seed and hope for the best like they did this year. In a few years we'll be looking at another to-be dynasty with the core locked up.

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